After a series of promising performances last season, Lucas Torreira was expected to be one of the first names on the team sheets this term. It simply hasn’t happened and appearances have been few and far between so far, which begs the question, has Torreira fallen out of favour ?
However, there are alternative answers to this riddle. Emery is alleged to have disagreed with Arsenal’s head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, over the purchase of Torreira because he favored the services of Steven Nzonzi. Mislintat won that battle but it may be that Emery wants to recruit his own holding midfielder.
Surely the Spaniard wouldn’t be so small minded as to force Torreira into asking for a transfer request. Sadly, it sounds all too familiar. There’s is another possibility. The Sun carried a story in June this year that suggested,
“The 23-year-old seems to be unhappy with life in England and has told Arsenal he wants out, according to journalist Alfredo Pedulla. AC Milan announced the arrival of former Sampdoria boss Marco Giampaolo last week.”
Giampaolo, was said to be extremely keen to reunite with Torreira after managing him at Sampdoria. There’s no denying that the players form had dipped prior to the alleged approach. The deal was rumoured to consist of a two-year loan, worth £7m with a £34m buy out option to be paid in one instalment.
Take your pick for the answer but for a player that seemed to make a difference by bringing a committed competitive edge to the side, it’s all a bit odd. The decision to select Xhaka ahead of Torreira is simply baffling too, because of the Swiss Internationals lack of contribution and individual errors that appear to be etched in his game.
We will see what happens but it’s one of a number of strange decisions in Emery’s box of oddness. Bellerin and Tierney are fit enough to play in a pointless second tier trophy but not fit enough to compete in the premier league.
Ceballos, who’s delicious array of skills delight the fans, has been used cautiously for a whopping £15m loan fee and Chambers fills in here and there no matter how good his performance is.
When it comes to the crunch on the final run in, will Arsenal fans pinpoint these anomaly’s as the reason for missing out on a champions league slot ?
Emery is beginning to show some signs of battle fatigue and it would appear to be down to the fact that he feels that he has excellent individuals but not the right balance in the team.
Two transfer windows was never going to solve all of Arsenal’s problems but refusing to use some personnel like Torreira and Ozil is completely mystifying at times and doesn’t endear him to the fans.
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